There is a mega-thread on the forum[0] where the community has started listing such games. Some of them are single-player games which cannot start offline.
If I cannot run it without the blessings of a company which will inevitably stop hosting a service, that is not DRM free. I should be able to store the bits on an archival DVD which is playable in N decades without the approval of anybody.
A quick skim, I pulled out a few:
- Beat Hazard 2 - online DRM. The game can't be started at all without being online. It is fully DRM-ed!
- F.E.A.R. - arguably a bug that stays unfixed. Securom remnants weren't removed and can cause the single player game not to start. See post 41
- Prison Tycoon: Under New Management - the main game is DRM free. The add-ons require Galaxy. They don't show up in game after an offline installation on an offline computer.
- Spellforce 3 - Skirmishes against the AI require an online connection.
- Two Point Hospital - part of the single-player content is gated through online connectivity. I.e. one has to register online and be online to unlock. Plus: core gamplay mechanics (staff handling, diagnostics) are bugged in offline mode.
Edit: I was going to add Cult of the Lamb which I previously did not buy from GOG because the developer retained DRM that would progress lock the game. Evidently that block has been removed. Conflicted if I can now buy it- they did correct their bad behavior, but it shouldn’t have been allowed in the first place.
“DRM FREE. No activation or online connection required to play.”
So, gog THINKS that it is DRM free, but you say it’s not, so I go to comment section and see that pinned, “OVERALL MOST HELPFUL REVIEW” says:
> ... has secret DRM. It's using SOAP to login a user and has bugs that error out if you disconnect during certain actions in the game. Either way the developer has turned to scum by putting secret backend monitoring software inside his 'drm free' game.
Aha! So it’s not GOG’s fault, it’s DEVELOPER’S fault. It’s just that GOG doesn’t know about yet, or doesn’t want to deal with it or whatever. So, yeah, technically gog should remove this game from their store. But the point is gog is not the one acting in bad faith here. The DEVELOPER is.
(I’ll look at other games later. Thank you for this list!)
PS. I think GOG should do a clean up of DRMed games to live up to their words. I am disappointed they are dropping a ball on this one. They should visit that forum page and check those games. But, like I said: gog is not initially acting in bad faith, developers who implement DRM into their games do.
> Aha! So it’s not GOG’s fault, it’s DEVELOPER’S fault.
That is a distinction without a difference. I have a business relationship with GOG. A relationship predicated on their pitch that games are DRM free. Knowingly selling games with restrictions is fraud.
They do not get to pretend they are ignorant of the complaints listed on their own web forum.
> I am disappointed they are dropping a ball on this one. They should visit that forum page and check those games.
I’m not trying to defend gog. “afaik” stands for “as far as I know”. It sucks, but in a world where everybody is trying to prevent people owning software they purchase gog is better than nothing. Beggars can’t be choosers.
> Knowingly selling games with restrictions is fraud.
I agree. Somebody who has money should sue them. In the meantime, if there is a better, more ethical alternative to gog let me know (and I am not being sarcastic when I say “let me know” - I genuinely want to know a reliable, ethical place where I can buy games without DRM).
It’s ok for a game to rely on a server if you can run that server locally on your computer, or be able to host server in general anywhere YOURSELF.
Do you mind finding at least 1 such DRM game on a gog, please? I want to look in to it to understand better what you mean.